In my feed reader this morning:

Maybe it’s time to drop this whole “edition” thing, guys.  I am just as guilty as you are because even I have gone to that well a time or two.  It’s clever and all, but nobody ever got hurt trying to be a little more original.

Don’t Hold Your Breath

WTOP reports that Tim Kaine will talk to President Obama about D.C. voting rights…sort of…maybe.

“I would be very willing to talk to the president about the issue of District voting rights, which I support and I think the president does, too,” Kaine said on WTOP’s Ask the Governor Program.

Kaine says he has not brought the subject up with Obama since the election.

“I have not talked to him directly about it, but I’ve heard his statements about this issue.”

“I don’t get infinite time with the president, so I’ve got to pick my moments and pick my issues. I would rather talk to him about the status of voting rights in the District than the license plate. That is more important than the license plate and I’m glad to talk to him about that.”

Kaine was asked if he would ask the president to change the license plate as a symbolic gesture of support.

“I haven’t and I probably won’t,” Kaine said.

So let’s see,  Kaine is “willing” to talk to Obama about it, but then offers the excuse he doesn’t “get infinite time with the president”

By God, I think that might be the perfect political answer non-answer I have seen in a long time.

Like I said, don’t hold your breath.

Say Gee Whiz

Michael Neibauer of the Examiner reports that D.C. gas stations are one step closer to a requirement to have video cameras monitoring the pumps.

The council on Tuesday gave preliminary unanimous approval to a bill requiring that retail service station operators install video surveillance within six months to monitor all pumps.

The measure also mandates the posting of signs at each pump reminding customers that the premises are under surveillance, and warning them to remove their keys from the vehicle and to lock their doors. And it requires the Metropolitan Police Department to produce a public service announcement “warning consumers of the potential dangers at retail service stations,” to be run on Channel 16.

Alexander, of Ward 7, first introduced the legislation in October 2007, about three months after her purse was stolen from her Range Rover while it was parked at a Southeast gas station. At the time, she described gas station crime as a “great threat” to public safety.

You know if I am ever the victim of a serious crime (again!), I sure hope someone has a camera or two nearby to protect me.  I mean come on, everybody knows stores with security cameras are never robbed or shot up.

Here’s a thought, Yvette: JUST BECAUSE YOU ARE A DUMBASS DOESN’T MEAN THE REST OF US ARE!

I’m thinking of walking down K Street with my laptop and just leaving it on the sidewalk while I grab some coffee and a muffin for about 45 minutes and IT BETTER STILL BE THERE WHEN I GET BACK !  Jesus.

Oh Really?

Headline from ABC 7 Reads: Confidence Restored for Metro Riders One Week After Crash

When you actually read the story, these 2 sentences about sum it up:

With the sensors that have been tested working and most of the old Metro cars moved off the ends of the trains, some are still questioning if that is enough.

In the middle of Tuesday night’s rush hour on the red line, at least one person who was directly involved in last week’s crash says he’s confident in the system.

“Some” are still questioning the safety, but we found one dude who is cool with it so the headline is: Confidence Restored for Metro Riders One Week After Crash.

How about: Confidence Restored for One Metro Rider After Crash

You Know What We Need? More Tourists

The Washington Business Journal tells of the council approving even more money for 1,167 room Marriott Marquis across from the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

The council voted unanimously to commit $272 million in public money to the project, an increase of $85 million over a subsidy package the city previously passed.

That’s quite a bit of coin.  Why do we need to put up so much money for this again?

Tourism officials say the long-stalled $537 million hotel is critical to the city’s ability to attract major conventions.

Well, you have a point there.  I mean who the hell wants to have their convention in the EFFING NATION’S CAPITAL!

But that’s not all. Neibauer from the Examiner points out in his take:

Mayor Adrian Fenty briefly floated the idea of full public financing, citing the bad economy and the developers’ inability to attract private money. But the sides ultimately found investors willing to back the project.

So when nobody else wants to pony up the money for the deal, our veiny-headed mayor wants to go balls deep in it with taxpayer cash.

Nice.  Very nice.

According to WaPo’s D.C. Wire blog, Jimmy Bowtie thinks there are too many morons running around with a taxi cab license.

“Graham, whose committee oversees the taxicab industry, said the city now has 8,000 licensed operators and another 1,000 candidates. ‘We have more licensed operators per capita, as best we can determine, in the world,’he said. ‘This boat is going to sink by its own weight.’

“Graham said he did not know how the city would achieve a ‘cap’ on drivers but said stakeholders should look at requiring medallions or certificates.”

This is a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation.

I’m sure the city loves all those fees, but 8,000 licensed plus 1,000 more candidates sounds excessive.

We’ll keep an eye on it.

In a 15-page decision released Tuesday, Associate D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith E. Retchin layethed the smack down on Bishop Harry Jackson and his cronies looking to bring the same sex marriage referendum.

Some of the more interesting highlights of the decision:

Petitioners waited until sixteen days before submitting their proposed referendum to the Board. In their reply, Petitioners proffer their delay was excusable because they did not know the District was considering the legislation because the Council’s bad faith prevented the public from
learning that the legislation was under consideration.

Petitioners invite the Court to conclude the Council acted in bad faith because, among other things, the Council briefly debated the bill, held no hearings, changed the name of the bill after its passage, and immediately sent the Act to the Mayor for his signature after its passage.

The Court concludes that Petitioners’ delay was inexcusable.

Additionally, there is no reason to believe that an interested citizen diligently following the issue could not have learned about its consideration by the Council. Indeed, Petitioners’ summary of the JMA’s legislative history suggests they knew of its existence before it was signed by the Mayor and certainly days before it was transmitted to Congress.

At bottom, the harm about which Petitioners complain is not based on a denial of the right to referendum. Rather, they simply disagree with legislation enacted by our duly-elected Council. A citizen’s disagreement with constitutionally sound legislation, whether based on political, religious or moral views, does not rise to the level of an actionable harm.

In short what the judge is saying is that Harry and his crew need to work within the laws that are established and not run to court just because they don’t like something the council did.

Back to the drawing board, Harry.

It might be time to scale back on the cutsie blog-like news posts you like to make on your website.

Today in my feed reader arrived this gem:

Now just in case somebody thinks I faked that, here it is with a little bit of context in my reader:

Click Here to Embiggen.

When I clicked the link I found a post I’m sure the writer BRITTANY TROTT thought was deliciously snarky.

D.C.’s taken the prize for being #1 in murders, and more recently, #1 in cocaine use. But a new study has found that we are also tops in brain smarts — does anyone else find that a little bit contradictory? Life’s DHA Index of Brain Health just released a study that says so, so it MUST be true!

Little Miss Brittany (who almost certainly draws annoying stars and smiley faces around her name when she doodles) goes on to dish out some actual information instead of her mediocre attempt at humor, but couldn’t resist ending with:

Yep, no more murders or cocaine use for THIS city!

Now call me crazy, but a supposed news organization running down the people and the city they cover and depend on for viewers is probably not the best idea in the world.

I think I get what you are trying to do.  In fact I can almost hear the suits who came up with it.  “Well people seem to really like those blog things.  Maybe we should dress up our website more like that.”

It’s actually not a bad idea, but you screwed the pooch when you hired half-assed writers to imitate bloggers.

So, you might want to have a little training course for your web team reminding them of the do’s and don’ts.

Do be entertaining, informative, and sometimes funny.

Don’t be a douchebag.

Good talk, NBC.  Now if you will just cut loose that drooling imbecile Jim Newell, I think I could actually respect you.

Okay, Metro riders, it’s time to chill the eff out.  Riding the old 1000 series cars is bad enough for your health without everybody wigging out and getting a big dick.

Since yesterday afternoon 3 of you have been screwing around and making a bad situation worse.

Read it and weep:

Red Line trains delayed after man struck, killed

A man who was struck and killed at the Forest Glen station was on the tracks intentionally, Metro says.

The transit agency says the man was hit by an eight-car red line train shortly after 4 p.m. Metro did not have any additional information about the man.

———-

Man pushed into side of moving Metro train

Metro officials say a man was hurt when he was pushed into the side of a moving train during an altercation at the Gallery Place-Chinatown station.

Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein says two men began to argue on the platform for green and yellow line trains around 6:40 a.m. Tuesday.

She says one man shoved the other into the train as it pulled into the station.

———-

Man in wheelchair falls onto track at Metro Green Line station

A man in a wheelchair fell onto the trackbed after exiting a train at Metro’s Southern Avenue station in Prince George’s County shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The man suffered head injuries, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel, and was taken to a hospital treatment. Taubenkibel said he did not know the man’s condition.

It was unclear how the man ended up on the tracks of the Green Line station. Taubenkibel said the man may have fallen asleep after exiting the train and rolled off the platform and dropped onto the trackbed.

What the hell is going on?

Everybody just take a step back, breathe in and out real slow, and enjoy the ride (assuming John Catoe and his “safe” 1000 series cars don’t kill you).

Another day, another Metro victim.  But this is not your run of the mill Metro story.

A man in a wheelchair fell onto the trackbed after exiting a train at Metro’s Southern Avenue station in Prince George’s County shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday.

The man suffered head injuries, according to Metro spokesman Steven Taubenkibel, and was taken to a hospital treatment. Taubenkibel said he did not know the man’s condition.

It was unclear how the man ended up on the tracks of the Green Line station. Taubenkibel said the man may have fallen asleep after exiting the train and rolled off the platform and dropped onto the trackbed.

I should add more commentary here, but I’m gonna hold off on that until we know for sure that the man actually fell asleep.

According to The Washington Post more than 500 people gathered yesterday to mourn the loss of Maj. Gen. David F. Wherley Jr. and his wife Ann in last Monday’s Metro crash.  The room was packed with politicians as well according to City Paper’s Loose Lips Daily including Eleanor Holmes Norton, Phil Mendelson, Tommy Wells, Harry Thomas Jr., Mary Cheh, and Bill Hall.

But where pray tell was Mayor Fenty?

In every single news report on the memorial service there isn’t a single quote or mention of the mayor in attendence.

I get the feeling our beloved mayor is more than happy to take front row center when the national media is watching, but decidely less than excited when it comes to low key events.

P.S. The mayor has no public events scheduled for today.  Road trip?

Somebody over at WaPo.com hit the send button a little too soon this morning.

Click Here To Embiggen

UPDATE: No shit!

Click Here to Embiggen

WaPo this morning confirms that John Catoe and Metro are determined to kill again by leaving the 1000 series of Metro cars in service.  On top of all that, the brilliant plan to move these cars to the middle of the trains will happen when ever they care to get it done.

Metro spokesman  Steven Taubenkibel says:

“It’s not like you can take the Red Line to Gallery Place and hang a right…It’s not like moving a couple of cars out of an auto dealership.”

Ohhhh poor baby.  Is your job hard?  We all feel for you.  Really we do.

———-

In other news, let’s party like it’s 1989!!!!! ( I know that was lame, but I couldn’t resist.)

WTOP and others are touting the District is on pace to have the fewest homicides since ‘89:

With 66 homicides reported by D.C. police so far this year, Washington is on pace to have the lowest yearly total for homicides since 1989.

The number is 20 percent below last year’s figure and if the homicide rate continued through December, the total for 2009 would be 134. That would be 52 fewer slayings than last year and 47 fewer than in 2007. It would be 35 fewer than in 2006.

But don’t slap on that party hat and pop open the bubbly just yet.  Criminologists say homicides often rise during the summer months.  Apparently summertime is a murderer’s busy season.  Who knew?

———-

Speaking of homicide, the mother of a cop killer later killed in his jail cell by cops Ronnie L. White is suing Prince George’s county for $150 million:

The family of accused killer Ronnie White, whose death in a Prince George’s County jail was ruled a homicide but produced no charges, is planning to sue Prince George’s County officials and correctional officers over his death.

White’s mother continues to blame the jailhouse guards. A year after her son’s death, she is filing suit for more than $150 million against Prince George’s County officials and those correctional officers who she believes killed her son.

I have personally never forgotten this story.  Say whatever the hell you want about what kind of person Ronnie White was, the fact remains nobody deserves to kill someone and get off scot-free. It’s been an effing year and even though everyone in PG knows these guards killed White no one in the prosecutors office has done a damn thing about it.

It’s a vicious circle really.  I don’t want the White family to get $150 million of the tax payer’s dollars, but at the same time I want someone who is refusing to enforce the law to pay a price.

This is the kind of bullshit we have to endure when the people are too damn busy with their own life to actually pay attention to what is going on in their government.

Somebody cue Mussolini.  ABC 7 reports this afternoon that John Catoe has rejected the proposal to remove the 1,000 series Metro cars because of the significant wait times it would cause on the Red Line.

D.C. council member and Metro Board chairman Jim Graham supposedly made the suggestion.

[Metro spokesman]Taubenkibel says Metro simply can’t afford to give up one-fourth of its fleet of cars and keep a record number of commuters on track.

“What that would mean is during rush hour, no more eight-car trains,” Taubenkibel added. “It would mean longer waits … and [strand] people at platforms.”

Let’s see…a few more minutes of waiting or the added potential of being crushed to death under 10 tons of metal?  I’ll take the wait.

This story wouldn’t be complete without this bit of Catoe logic:

Catoe has compared the 1970s-era 1000-series cars to 1970s automobiles, saying that of course modern train cars are safer than older train cars, just as modern passenger vehicles are safer than vehicles built in the 1970s. But Catoe has rejected the idea the 1000-series cars are unsafe, calling it only a passenger “perception”.

It’s not a “perception” that something made in this century is safer than something made last century, John.  It’s a fact.

But while we are talking about perceptions, it seems to me the only one you need to concern yourself with is that a lot of people (including myself) see 9 dead bodies from last week’s crash as a result of you and your staff’s incompetence.

If you don’t get your head out of your ass and start thinking realistically about the safety of the Metro passengers, I can see that perception really taking off.